Baked Goat Cheese Roasted Cranberry Appetizer

This fancy baked goat cheese roasted cranberry appetizer recipe is easier to make than it looks! It is the perfect appetizer for holiday gatherings like Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Do you remember the first time you had baked goat cheese? No? Well, I do. It was kind of a pivotal appetizer moment for me.

Oh, you don’t have pivotal appetizer moments either? … … … I may, or may not, be obsessed with food.

I am not ashamed to say that eating goat cheese for the first time, hot, baked and creamy, was when I realized that appetizer cheese meant more than some cheese cubes next to stale crackers.

Don’t get me wrong – I will still plop myself down in front of a cheese tray and slightly gorge myself. It’s just not something I plan on.

Baked goat cheese, however, is something I plan. And crave. And maybe dream about.

This baked goat cheese roasted cranberry appetizer is definitely something out of my dreams. I can see myself and my family sitting at a table, with some wine, noshing on this while the turkey cooks on Thanksgiving.

I can also see us eating it at Christmas… and New Year’s Eve… and my birthday (in July). Cause it’s my party, and I will eat holiday appetizers when I want to.

Go out, grab a log of goat cheese and some fresh cranberries, and get to celebrating.

Baked Goat Cheese Roasted Cranberry Appetizer

This delicious appetizer is super easy to make. Wash your cranberries and while they’re draining, mix up the balsamic and honey in a small bowl. Toss in the cranberries and set the bowl aside.

After you roast the almonds, chop them up and then roll the goat cheese into the almonds. This gets a little messy so I usually throw on some disposable kitchen gloves.

Seriously, those things are amazing.

I usually use the cutting board I chopped the almonds on because its great leverage and I can pick up whatever almond shavings may get away.

Anyway, manipulate the goat cheese into a disc shape (see above picture for an example) and place the cheese in the center of a pie plate.

Then pour the cranberries all around the goat cheese log. Did a little balsamic honey dribble on top of the goat cheese? That’s awesome. It’s just going to add to the app.

Sprinkle some additional almonds on top, throw it in the oven and let it bake.

When you pull it out of the oven, you are going to have a gooey, cheesy, sweet pile of awesome. We usually serve this with crackers or bread – pictured are little toasts imported from France and olive oil crackers.

Cranberry sauce is a necessary holiday side dish but I think many people just open up that iconic Thanksgiving cranberry-sauce-in-a-can and then go on with their merry way.

This holiday appetizer just might change the way you think about cranberries.

Baked Goat Cheese Roasted Cranberry Appetizer

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 0

This fancy baked goat cheese roasted cranberry appetizer recipe is easier to make than it looks! It is the perfect appetizer for holiday gatherings like Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Ingredients

1/3 cup unsalted almonds

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup honey

2 cups fresh cranberries

1 tablespoon thyme

10 ounces goat cheese

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread the almonds on a baking sheet and bake for 6 minutes. Remove pan from the oven and pour the almonds into a small bowl. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the balsamic vinegar and honey. Add the cranberries and thyme to the bowl and stir until they are covered by the liquid. Set aside for 5 minutes.

On a cutting board, chop up the almonds. Set aside 1/2 tablespoon chopped almonds and roll the goat cheese in the remaining almonds. Use your hands to mix the almonds into the goat cheese and form the goat cheese into a disc. Place the goat cheese in the center of a pie plate.

Pour the cranberry mixture around the cheese. Sprinkle the set aside almonds on top of the goat cheese.

Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes. Serve hot with crackers or bread.

This looks seriously fantastic! I’m looking for appetizers to prepare for our holiday parties coming up and this would be perfect! Nothing better than digging into some gooey delicious cheese! Thanks for sharing!

Congratulations! This post is featured over at Diana Rambles this week and has been pinned in the Featured at Diana Rambles board at Pinterest, Yummed, and shared on Twitter. Please grab a featured button via the post guidelines graphic. Thanks for sharing this awesome recipe!

Hi Elaine, thank you for bringing this to my attention. I recently did some site updates and it appears that old versions of a few recipes are currently on my website. It should say thyme. I really appreciate you telling me, otherwise I might not have known about this recipe and the others.

Do you think it would negatively impact anything if I just mixed the cranberry into the goat cheese mixture, and baked it that way? I’m assuming / hoping that it would end up a bit looser, like a cross between the soft cheese and a dip, and folks wouldn’t have to try to “get some of each” when they attack it.

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